What Would A Rich Person Do?

My friend once worked as an assistant for a very busy and successful man who was travelling out of the country. Close to his travel date, he realised that his passport was expired, and asked her to handle renewing it. After a lot of research, she reported back: He was going to have to spend a day waiting in a government office getting it renewed. That's just the rules. He sighed at her and asked, "What would a rich person do?"

Get out of gaol free, for one.

The sad fact is, "the rules" just don't always apply if you have enough money. And this guy had enough. So they threw it at the problem. She learned that while a passport expeditor can't get a passport processed faster, they can do all the legwork and save you a trip to the office. And for this man, that was worth it.

Every now and then you'll come across a problem such as this, which can be solved if you're willing, just this once, to throw too much money at it. That's when you spring for the same-day shipping, or the long taxi ride, or the $120 barber, or the $50 room service. Or you find some behind-the-scenes solution that leaves you disgusted with the things money can buy. But it doesn't hurt anyone, so you do it.

You ask yourself "What would a rich person do?" because you are not a rich person, and so you are only doing this because you realise the unusually high value of this one-time service. You ask it that way so that you don't make it a habit. (After all, you'll be happier if you get used to the cheap way.)

You'll solve the problem, you'll move on, you'll prepare better next time. Or you'll realise that one area of your life just costs more money than others. There is no ethical consumption under capitalism, but hey, while we've got it, let's use it.

Only logged in users may vote for comments!

Get Permalink

Trending Stories Right Now

Google’s aptly named AI helper, Google Assistant, is poised to have a great year in 2019. Not only will the digital assistant be spreading to numerous devices old and new, but there are a host of new features coming, too, several of which were shown off at CES the week before last.

MyRepublic just smashed the price barrier for super-fast NBN. For a limited time, you can get the top-tier Unlimited Premium plan with speeds of up to 100Mbps for just $79.95 per month - a saving of $10. Here are the details!